Obama Visitor Logs Must Be Public, Lawyer Tells Court

The names of people vetted by the
U.S. Secret Service for White House visits are agency records
that must be made public, a lawyer for Judicial Watch Inc. told
a federal appeals court in Washington.

Judicial Watch, a Washington-based legal activist
organization, asked a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of
Appeals today to uphold a district judge’s order requiring the
Secret Service to process its request for the names of people
who visited the White House during the first nine months of
President Barack Obama’s term under the Freedom of Information
Act.

“This is a routine case,” James Peterson, a lawyer for
Judicial Watch, said during the argument. “This is a FOIA
request to an agency.”

The dispute involves what the Secret Service says are about
500,000 records of visitors to the White House from the day
Obama took office until September 2009, when the administration
began posting visitor data on the White House website.

The Secret Service says it doesn’t control the data it uses
to conduct background checks before a visit. Once a visit is
complete, the agency turns that information over the White House
and the Office of the Vice President, which it argues retains
“exclusive legal custody” of the information. The data are
presidential records, not agency records, Mark Stern, a Justice
Department lawyer, told the judges.

Potential Nominees

Two of the judges today suggested that if FOIA applies to
the records then the president may no longer be able to keep the
names of potential appointees he interviews from becoming
public.

“The president will not be able to meet with the person he
wants to appoint before disclosing it to the world,” U.S.
Circuit Judge Merrick Garland said.

Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, is
among a dozen media companies and organizations that filed a
legal brief supporting Judicial Watch’s position.

On Aug. 17, 2011, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an
Obama appointee, ruled that the Secret Service possessed the
records and ordered the agency to process Judicial Watch’s data
request.

Watchdog Group

Obama announced on Sept. 4, 2009, that his administration
would begin releasing the logs after being sued by at least one
watchdog group for the details on who government officials were
meeting with. Former President George W. Bush also fought to
keep such visitor records private.

The White House says that since then it has released
2.5 million visitor records, according to the administration’s
website.

As many as 100,000 people visit the White House every
month, including tour groups. The administration said it intends
to release all names except in cases involving national security
or when the visit is confidential, such as a presidential
interview with a potential Supreme Court nominee.

The case is Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Secret Service, 11-
5282, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
(Washington).